Plains All American to Build New Pipelines in West Texas

Plains All American LP will build two new crude oil pipelines and associated gathering systems in far West Texas and New Mexico, adding more reach to other expansions to move Permian Basin production to markets, the company said on Thursday.

Both projects will increase infrastructure to move output from the Delaware Basin part of the Permian, where output is increasingly a very light form of crude known as condensate.

Plains said the company will extend its Avalon pipeline in Loving County into Culberson County with a 32-mile, 12-inch line with 100,000 barrels per day of capacity. That project is slated for initial startup in July and full operation in September this year.

The company also will build a 60-mile, 16-inch State Line pipeline to connect Culberson County output to Wink, Texas, along the Texas-New Mexico state line. That 150,000 bpd pipeline will move Delaware Basin output in Eddy and Lea counties in New Mexico and Loving, Reeves and Culberson counties in Texas to existing Plains operations.

The State Line pipeline also will be a batched system, meaning it will be able to transport condensate separate from other types of crude. The State Line will start up in phases from early to mid-2016, Plains said.

Reporting By Kristen Hays Editing by W Simon